Storyline development: what is your workflow?
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:41 pm
Considering I've never written fiction in my life, nor have I ever written a VN before, I've been trying to figure out a good way to write a multifaceted storyline. I'm thinking there might be a better way to do this than what I'm currently employing.
From initial idea to fully developed storyline: what are you steps?
Mine are:
1. I started with an initial idea of the universe my storyline would take place in. At this point, I had no idea of an actual storyline. I just asked myself "what if" scenarios. For example, "what if aliens had come to earth and learned to peacefully coexist with them"?
2. I tried to settle on a theme. I tried to make it one word but it ended up being a couple sentences.
3. I decided what the scope of my story should be (ex: save the world, save the city, save my girlfriend).
4. I tried to describe what I wanted to accomplish in each of my 3 alternate routes with one sentence each.
5. I then tried to describe each alternate route in terms of story arcs. Right now, I have 2-3 sentences per route, where each sentence is an arc.
6. Then, because my storyline would be broken into days, I tried to figure out what I wanted to occur on each day. Characters are still just amorphous blobs named "PC," "NPC Girl 1," "NPC Girl 2," etc.
7. After the "major event" of each day is hammered out, I try to break it down even further and determine what the daily problems (mini-arcs) should be. Since there is a bit of slice-of-life content in my story, I had to invent some rather mundane events.
This is where I am currently at. I have learned several things and hit many roadblocks, as well. I noticed my amorphous blob characters developed a sense of personality while I jotted down the mini-arcs for step 7, even when I didn't want them to. For example, one of the male NPCs in my storyline ended up being some kind of anime otaku even when I initially didn't plan him as one. Anyway, step 7 has caused me to see errors, loopholes, impossibilities, and irrationalities in my storyline, so I have been forced to go through step 1 - 6 numerous times. This makes me believe there has to be a better way to do this. What I've been doing up to now is trial and error. I change one aspect of the storyline, and recursively go through the steps to determine if its something that's "likely" to happen in the story.
Assuming I ever get passed this phase:
8. I assume this might be the final step where I break down each "mini-arc" description and dialog.
From initial idea to fully developed storyline: what are you steps?
Mine are:
1. I started with an initial idea of the universe my storyline would take place in. At this point, I had no idea of an actual storyline. I just asked myself "what if" scenarios. For example, "what if aliens had come to earth and learned to peacefully coexist with them"?
2. I tried to settle on a theme. I tried to make it one word but it ended up being a couple sentences.
3. I decided what the scope of my story should be (ex: save the world, save the city, save my girlfriend).
4. I tried to describe what I wanted to accomplish in each of my 3 alternate routes with one sentence each.
5. I then tried to describe each alternate route in terms of story arcs. Right now, I have 2-3 sentences per route, where each sentence is an arc.
6. Then, because my storyline would be broken into days, I tried to figure out what I wanted to occur on each day. Characters are still just amorphous blobs named "PC," "NPC Girl 1," "NPC Girl 2," etc.
7. After the "major event" of each day is hammered out, I try to break it down even further and determine what the daily problems (mini-arcs) should be. Since there is a bit of slice-of-life content in my story, I had to invent some rather mundane events.
This is where I am currently at. I have learned several things and hit many roadblocks, as well. I noticed my amorphous blob characters developed a sense of personality while I jotted down the mini-arcs for step 7, even when I didn't want them to. For example, one of the male NPCs in my storyline ended up being some kind of anime otaku even when I initially didn't plan him as one. Anyway, step 7 has caused me to see errors, loopholes, impossibilities, and irrationalities in my storyline, so I have been forced to go through step 1 - 6 numerous times. This makes me believe there has to be a better way to do this. What I've been doing up to now is trial and error. I change one aspect of the storyline, and recursively go through the steps to determine if its something that's "likely" to happen in the story.
Assuming I ever get passed this phase:
8. I assume this might be the final step where I break down each "mini-arc" description and dialog.